sometimes one word can say it all. this arizona house is getting a lot of attention for 20,000 plus light display. look at the neighbor's house. stealing the show with a far more simple message, ditto. the homeowner doesn't own a ladder so how could you compete? apparently there are no hard feelings because her sign ditto was the idea of the over-the-top decorator next door. he even built the ditto tyne -- sign for her. that's fantastic. thanks for watching, i'm megyn kelly. >> sometimes less is more. i'm gretchen carlson in for shep today. the acting head of the c.i.a. meeting with lawmakers on the attack in benghazi that killed four americans. details ahead. >> the family of a u.s. marine who survived iraq and afghanistan says they're fearing

for his life in a mexican prison over what they call an innocent mistake. we have that for you as well. a new report on the changing demos of the united states predicts no race will hold a majority in the coming decades. that's all ahead unless breaking news changes everything on "studio b." first up, a high profile briefing today on capitol hill as lawmakers continue their probe into the deadly 9/11 attack. mike morel talking to house lawmakers behind closed doors, updating them on the investigation as to who carried out the attack and why. chris stevens a three others died in the attack. obama administration said it was a spontaneous event linked to a video. catherine herridge is live for

us on capitol hill. there's been this back and forth now. even as much as a moment ago about when secretary of state hillary clinton will testify. what do you know? >> good to be with you. we've got a situation where two congressional committees are saying the secretary of state will testify on capitol hill today but a short time ago at a briefing there was a suggestion there could be a slide on the date because of a arb not being complete. >> the arb is continuing to do its work. to my knowledge it's not yet concluded its work. it decided to keep deliberations confidential until it's finished. our expectation is that after the arb reports to the secretary, then she will have consultations with congress. >> one of the key issues in this

review is whether the state department has culpability for the deaths of four americans in benghazi. as fox reports based on the cable there was an emergency meeting in benghazi a month before the attack where the individuals on the ground, head of security, warned washington they could not sustain a coordinated attack and there were at least ten militias or islamist groups. it amounts to a smoking gun warning. not the only was there further security provided but the security force was further pulled back. >> what are we learning about the status of that f.b.i. investigation? >> one of the things that is striking about the two classified briefings is a tight lid on response from lawmakers in the briefings about what we've learned. they were told there's been limited progress in the investigation by the f.b.i. because it's been hampered by a

lack of cooperation by the countries who hold the suspects, particularly when you look at libya where the government does not have control over the eastern part of the country where benghazi is locate. the leading democrat is telling fox characterizing this lack of progress is limited. >> there's a lot more to do. this is an ondoing process but we're using our techniques and using our relationships with other governments to find out who did this and why they did it. >> just to recap there are at least three publicly known suspects. one killed in a raid by egyptians authorities in october. a second was arrested in egypt and there's a third suspect that's been held in to tunisia r two months. the attorney general defended the f.b.i. investigation saying there was more going on than meets the eye. >> you talk about one part of

the investigation, an investigation that's ongoing and our efforts with regard to that specific part that you mentioned are indeed ongoing and we'll see how that develops. but there are a range of other things we're doing with regard to the benghazi incident we don't talk about. >> reporter: the real take away today is that there's a pretty tight lid among lawmakers on what was said in the briefings to bring them up to date on the status of the investigation. about a week from today we may get the first public it testimony from the secretary of state. today that department sugg the date could slide. on capitol hill they believe it will happen as planned. >> cath ridge herridge, thank you. now to rick nelson from the center for strategic and international studies a nonprofit organization in d.c. i understand i can call you ozzie. >> thank you, yes you can.

>> what do you make of this? there seems to be waffling on the secretary of state and whether or not she's going to testify december 20th. what do you make of it? >> she does need to testify. this did happen on her watch as they say and she does have to report to congress who has the oversight for these issues. it's important we wait until the independent review board presents their findings. >> the interesting thing, remember, she was the first in the administration to take the fall to a certain extent. before the election is she said look, i'm responsible for this. the state department was responsible for not providing the security. the buck stops with me. the president after that changed it and said the buck stopped with him. but does it stop with her or with the president? >> they're both. all the way to the top and everyone in between. signing -- assigning blame and responsibility is the easy part. the difficult part is figuring out what went wrong, how do we fix it so diplomats overseas

have the appropriate security they need to put forward their mission. >> why should american people care about this story? >> the first embassador in 30 years died in the line of duty. it's a big instance and american people are interested in what happened and congress has a role on behalf of the american people to find out what it can and then make appropriate changes, whether it's additional legislation or funds and resources to give our diplomats what they need? >> do you think we'll get the full story and journalists or the average citizen unless we hear from the president, maybe suzanne rice, in more detail? >> the dynamic instances we'll never under the full story. those investigating will never understand what really happened. too many things are going on and a lot of information like how we secure our embassies, the nature of threat, that will remain

classified and can't be shared with the public domain. >> thank you for your thoughts. >> couple of potential game changers in the syrian civil war, the nato chief says the regime in syria is approaching collapse and president assad as ally, russia, admits the rebels could defeat the sir ran regime. moscow is preparing to evacuate russians citizens if necessary. this marks the first time in the civil war that killed more than 40,000 people that russia suggested president assad could actually lose. moscow repeatedly blocked security council measure, the sir ran regime supports iran, hamas, hezbollah and the third biggest stockpile of chemical weapons. johnathan hunt with the news. there seems to be a growing

consensus the end could be near for president assad. >> certainly is. the russian position is particularly interesting and significant. it would appear to amount on the part of president assad as greatest ally over the last 18 months that the end is nigh, the rebels are making ground every day, making gains every day. it's an acceptance from the russians in a sense that they have to abandon their old ally and make new friends in syria if they want to maintain any influence after assad has gone. as you said, the nato chief adding to the chorus of voices saying assad's days are numbered. very small right now, listen. >> in anwar, i think the regime in damascus is approaching collapse. i think now is only a question

of time. i urge the regime to stop violence, to realize what is the actual situation, and initiate a process that leads to the accommodation of the legitimate aspirations of the sir ran people. >> the questions that remain of course of how long assad can hold on. how desperate he gets, and in that desperation, what sort of weapons he uses. >> last couple of days we were so concerned about assad potentially moving chemicals weapons into strategic positions. >> syrian officials say it's a lie. we've not heard from president assad himself. we heard from his information minister who told about

conspiracy theories, promoted by western powers of these chemical weapons, about the conspiracy theory they say the syrian regime used scud missiles and the talk of assad's days being numbered is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy and the information minister said the russians haven't shifted their position one bit. listen. >> they're now. >> i don't think there's any change in the russian position, the only thing is the americans came closer to the russian for example. the americans listed bat a terrorist group, coming closer to the russian side. i'm convinced there's no change in russian position. >> whether he's doing it intentionally or not, the syrian information minister seems divorced from reality saying the u.s. position is moving towards

the russian, he's the new baghdad bob. >> thank you very much. jacob tyler roberts's friends say he was a young man who was fun and sweet. why did he open fire on holiday shoppers in a crowded mall? next, a search for a motive in the deadly and senseless shooting spree. north korea put a satellite into or bit but the regime is a long way from a major player in space. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills.

>> gretchen: why did he do it? that's what friends are asking about the young man who opened fire in shopping mall tuesday killing two people, wounding a third and shot himself dead. the sheriff identified the shooter at jacob tyler roberts. his ex-girlfriend tells abc news he was never the violent type but something changed about him in recent weeks, all of a sudden

he seemed numb. dan springer is live at the mall. what more do we know about the victim? >> reporter: well, gretchen, heartbreaking stories but let's talk about the good news, that is that the one surviving victim is doing a lot better, she's very lucky to to be alive basedn where the bullet hit her. kristina shevchenko is in serious condition but expected to make a full recovery. the bullet went through her back, came out her chest and bruised her lung. we're learning more about the two killed. 45-year-old steven forsyth married with two kids, he owned a kiosk in the mall, a side job that was supposed to last through the holidays. and 54-year-old cindy ann yuille was a hospice nurse christmas shopping for her stepson. >> cindy was an amazing hospice nurse, she spent her life

helping others transition to the end of life and her family never got to say good-bye. >> the mall is closed for a second day today but is expected to open at 9:00 tomorrow. >> gretchen: when you see the pictures of the victims and learn about their families, it's so senseless. can you tell us anything more you have learned about the shooter? >> reporter: still no concrete answers on why roberts did this. we're getting a better picture of him from a lot of sources, a lot of social media talking about him. he talked about himself on social media, on facebook he described himself as an adrenaline junky who liked shooting but most say no criminal history, no violent past. there's word he recently quit his job at a sandwich job, sold his belongings and planned to move to hawaii but missed his flight. a neighbor saw him leaving his apartment in a hurry carrying a

guitar case. his mom issued a statement through a friend. >> tammy wishes to express her shock and grief over the events at the center. she has no explanation or understanding of her son's behavior. >> his mom was worried a couple years earlier about his drug use and that he might end up in prison some day. >> dan springer, thank you much. experts say north korea still years from having a shot at developing reliable missiles despite the recent rocket launch. north korea's three stage longing range rocket launch is a front for a intercontinental ballistic missile test. the launch is progress for the nuclear arms weapons nation but it would take a langer missile to his us, the united states. jennifer griffin is live for us

at the pentagon. how successful or disturbing was the launch? >> there's a little bit of confusion about just how successful the launch was. u.s. officials are telling us that the initial indications suggest while the launch appears to have worked in terms of going through the three phases of orbit there are indications the north koreans may not have control over the satellite and it is tumbling. it's not feared by u.s. officials it will fall out of the sky but they're watching it carefully. the south koreaance say it appears the north koreans have control over the satellite and the south koreans continue to retrieve debris from the long range rocket out of the sea near their borders. >> gretchen: are there more reaction -- have we heard from washington? >> the president has not reacted publicly. for the most part the

administration is torn about not wanting to give north korea too much attention. >> what we have said both leading up to and now in the aftermath of this launch is it was a provocative act that threatens regional peace and security and undermines the nonproliferation regime and it's regrettable they took this course. >> in the days ahead the united states will work with partners on the security council as well as our partners in the six-party talks and other countries in the international community to pursue appropriate action. >> reporter: but as we know, gretchen, those appropriate actions are very difficult without the support of china. >> gretchen: no doubt. jennifer griffin live from the pentagon, thank you. >> tracking a person's every move without them knowing. it's as simple as buying a smartphone app but legislation

could change that. we'll look at that for you next. plus, the changing face of america. pretty soon there will be no racial majority in our country. what will that mean for society? what about politics? that's coming up. stick around.

>> gretchen: new senate bill taking on the so-called stalker apps that help smartphone user track victims. the bill was sponsored by al franken that closes a loophole that laws apps to secretly operate on a cell phone and transmit their location without their knowledge. the bill updates laws passed years before laws revolutionized

smartphones. you've been working on this since the '90s. you see this as a domestic violence situation. >> it's another way to empower a stalker. they can put an application on your phone without you know and follow you wherever you are. stalking encompasses a lot of behavior, one is to know where you are all the time and send harassing emails do things physically. >> a case i was reading about, somebody was fearful of an ex-husband and he texted her saying i know you're at the courthouse and now i know you're such and such. this is a type of situation that would stop that from happening, correct? >> correct. so many people think of technology separate and apart from the stalking app but that's the context through which we should view that. same type of principles. you can make a person fearful

and that's the way this could be used. >> gretchen: the exception to the rule would be parents. >> yes. >> gretchen: they would still be allowed to track their children? >> right. exactly. if you also said i agree that you can have this application, the thing that makes it insidous is it's done without the person's knowledge that it's on their phone. that's really the -- >> gretchen: it would make it a crime. >> exactly. it's a loophole. >> gretchen: it's simple to do if you have access to their phone, it takes a moment to downlope load the app. will companies be able to track the location of their employees if you have a company device? and does it matter? >> it's a great question. it relates to how employees are treated by their employers. they have all sorts of things where you use a company car, they have gps on the car. i don't see in the bill that prohibits that. it's a question of collective bargaining and what should your employer know about employees.

it's a privacy issue on the cutting edge. as technology becomes part of our daily lives we'll bump into this question more. >> the law's trying to catch up to it. michael balance bony, thank you. >> thank you. >> a u.s. marine locked up in a mexican prison reportedly chained to his bed because of an innocent mistake. we have details on an effort to try to get him home. google wins a battle in a war with apple. what it could mean for you as we approach the bottom of the hour already. we have more top stories. [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it mahelp lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just he to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup.

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hi everyone. i'm gretchen carlson in for shep smith today and this is "studio b." a former u.s. marine trapped in a prison in mexico for something his family calls and honest mistake. his relatives and u.s. lawmakers are trying to free him. east jon hammar. his family says he and a buddy set out on a road trip to costa rica, suffering, hunting but he ran into serious trouble because authorities arrested the former marine after he arrived in mexico for carrying a weapon only the army can use. relatives say it's an antique handgun his great grandfather owned.

hadt happened four months ago. >> i ask you to continue to pray for him. we got a call from him last night. he's in a tough situation because it's public in mexico so we pray that you pray for his protection and quick release. >> thank you. >> and it is a precarious situation now that we've gone public and that's our concern at this point. it's chaos down there. >> gretchen: can you imagine if you were those parents? they say they ultimately turned to their local congresswoman for help and she happens to head up the house foreign affairs committee. >> about it we continue -- if we continue to keep up the pressure i'm hopeful we can bring john home to his family, his friends and mom and dad by christmas. >> gretchen: no word of relief

yet. authorities believe a drug cartel could have control over the prison where guards chained the 27-year-old man to his bed. steve, i interviewed lance corporal hammar's mom on "fox & friends" and his parents say they receive threatening phone calls from the prison and they were asked for ransom money. >> it's been a four-month ordeal for the family and they tell me the worst part has been threatening phone calls from inside the prison. the first one demanded she send $1,800 to western union or her son would be killed. here's what she told thus morning. >> it was the longest night of my life. i was physically ill all night waiting for the next call. they would call back and we tried to stall them to give the embassy time to get him isolated. >> reporter: they did get him isolated. jon hammar was moved out of the

general population into a makeshift storage room. >> gretchen: then we got the reports he was chained possibly to a bed. is that still the case? >> reporter: it has been the case in the past. we spoke to his lawyer in mexico city today who said for a time he was chained to the bed. we spoke jon's father who visited him at the prison and he said jon was chained to a bed during that time. his father said the mexican prison guards were afraid jon would try to escape. >> they chained him to the bed so they could feel safe he was not going to run away and they get in trouble. >> reporter: the family says the gun jon brought to mexico was a 60-year-old sears and roebuck rifle that belonged to his great grandfather. there are postings that say it's illegal to bring guns in but his parents said he presented it and

they said it was okay. >> some question it because he's a former marine. steve, thank you very much. did you know white men and women will no longer be the majority in the united states just three decades from now? that's the new prediction from the u.s. census bureau. by 2043 there will be no majority groups as the percentage falls below 30%. the demos are changing more quickly for kids. numbers show by the end of this decade no single race will be a majority among kids under 18. joining me, marcella suarez aroscoe. >> thank you. >> when we look at the census numbers, america has been known as the melting pot. officially we're still the melting pot.

>> the data tells the story of a changing american democracy and a future that will look in some ways like our past but in other ways, it will look different. >> gretchen: it's interesting politically because in just the election last month, president obama received 78% of the nonwhite vote. how do you see this factoring in, ramifications politically moving forward? >> both parties will have to rethink and redouble their efforts to connect with what will, moving forward, be or fastest-growing demographic. i think that everyone is looking at the latino origin population of the united states. latinos voted in very large numbers for george w. bush in the first election and that has changed. so the elephant in the room, so to speak, is will the parties be able to maintain a muscular

connection with a democrat drastic that will be important moving forward. >> neil: when you look at the report, hispanics will go to 31%. african-americans, 14.7%, asians 5 to 8% and whites down 43%. social implications. >> i'm interested in your thoughts on this. there's a lot of discussion about my ortiz, getting into colleges, having access. will whites then at some point be -- will they have a minority status? >> well, gretchen, the most significant social imp -- implication is we have to reconnect with the new americans. the fastest-growing sector of the population is the u.s.-born

citizen children of immigrants. we need to make sure these children have the education, the tools, the cognitive, the meta-cognitive skills to thrive in the economy with jobs of the future. that's a real challenge, a real challenge as a society, making sure the kids, the new -- our new, newest americans have all the tools they need for jobs. that's what we need to focus on. >> i understand that. i have a 7 and 9-year-old, so i get it. thanks for your thoughts. >> thank you, gretchen. >> iphone users, rejoice. google maps again aavailable for apple products. this year apple replaced google maps with its application which many considered inferior. in fact problems with the apple app were so bad the company

c.e.o. posted a public apology. now google maps is back. shibani joins me now. it's getting rave reviews. i have two blackberries. i know i'm old school. >> you're not going to get that. >> bring me up to date. why is it good news? >> first of all you need an iphone. >> write that down, christmas present. >> or some other smartphone. there's a lot of good choices we can talk about. basically it means that there was a great mapping function on the iphone called google maps. three months ago apple decides to kick it off because it wanted to use its software and programs on its devices. makes a lot of sense. the problem is the move backlashed because apple maps was not ready. there were tons of glitches, they sent people to different addresses and locations. this week alone we got reports

of a couple in the outback in australia left stranded in the desert without water because of the apple maps. google map saves the day and everybody is rejoicing. it's the top download today. it fixes the glitches the apple program had and the app is free so you can get it and it won't cost you a thing. >> merry christmas to myself. shibani, thank you for the update. our detail fiscal cliff update is next. find out if the powers that be in washington, have they worked out a dealer? spoiler alert, they say they're not close. >> john mcafee left the united states to avoid taxes but now he's happy to be back in the gold ol' us of a. [ roasting firewood ]

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speaker john boehner set to meet today to discuss the fiscal cliff as the two sides have been struggling, to say the least, to reach a deal. speaker boehner says president obama wants tax increases but is resistant to spending cuts. the president is optimistic about a deal but acknowledges it's a work in progress. in public opinion, a poll from the pew research center 55% say the president is making a serious effort to reach a agreement. 32% of republican leaders. mike, we're hearing frustration from republicans but the breaking news, 5:00 p.m. east coast time these two getting together again. >> this is critical a 5:00 meeting at the white house between the president and speaker, the two key figures in trying to hammer out a deal. the republicans were trying to make the point spending is the

nature of the government's problem, not tax revenue. they prepared a chart showing spending is expected to increase from now to 2041 while tax revenue is expected to hold consistent. so at one point today the speaker of the house sounded like he was kind of tired of answering hypothetical questions. >> ifs and and and butts are like candy and nuts. if that's the case, every day would be christmas. my goal is to get to an agreement with the president that addresses this problem. >> and there seems to be alarms raised today when the house was essentially dismissed for the weekend. the speaker's office said he was intending to go home to ohio tomorrow with the fiscal cliff three weeks out but the president and speaker will get together at 5:00 eastern. >> the democrats are sounding worried about running out of

time to get a deal done, right? >> that's right. we're hearing the majority leader in the senate, harry reid, is concerned about running out of time. the former speaker of the house, the house minority leader, nancy pelosi, expressed concerns about timing. over at the white house early today, it got personal between jay carney and speaker john boehner, carney making reference to a situation almost 20 years old. take a also listen to this. >> let me say while i personally am fond of john boehner, his record of predicting what would happen to certain economic policies were instituted is abysmal. after 1993, after the budget plan was passed we saw record increase and vast.

a wealth created. >> this was earlier. the important thing, a face-to-face meeting between the president and speaker. they had a phone call tuesday evening which was less than cordial. perhaps a face-to-face meeting will move the ball forward. >> gretchen: if only they were on the golf course. that solves everything. mike emanuel, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> let's talk about the john mcafee saga wanted for questioning in his neighbor's death. he tells abc news he played the crazy card to save himself. here's the crazy back story. a neighbor in the nation of belize complained about john mcafee's dog, then somebody poisoned the dogs then killed mcafee's neighbor. the millionaire says he escaped to avoid police who say he's a person of interest in the killing but not a suspect. he turned up in guatemala where he got in illegally but instead of sending him to belize, they flew him to the united states

and he's in a hotel in miami. he says he ethics the publicity -- he thinks the publicity surrounding his case is working. >> millionaire madman on the run. you paid attention to the story. because you acted like a madman. >> i did and it worked. >> gretchen: it's not all good news, his cash is still in belize and his 20-year-old girlfriend stayed in guatemala. phil, mcafee says he wants privacy. i can't keep the story straight. what do you know? >> well he's not getting privacy and doesn't seem too intent on it. every step of the way in south beach he's surrounded by a international media hoard and giving news conferences on ocean drive. he's even seemingly enjoying his new found celebrity status posing for photos with tourists. aside from that he's doing what

tourist do, enjoying the beach, eating sushi and he's not stuck in a guatemala jail. remember the sudden heart attack while detained in guatemala, mcafee admits he made the whole thing up and it worked. >> there was a three-hour time limit for the judge ruling against us and he needed to file an appeal. if i -- if nothing happened, i would have been returned to belize. the pressure gave me a heart attack so i had one. >> reporter: but real serious pressure could return for the millionaire. if police in belize, if they do, request he be extradited but cops tell me they will only do that if they develop evidence that finds him liability -- liable in the death of the neighbor. until that happens, they're not involved in the saga. >> i want to make this clear for

the 100th time, i have absolutely nothing to do with the murder in belize. >> reporter: the 20-year-old girlfriend, samantha, mcafee confirms he also has another girlfriend, 17-year-old amy, both he says are in hiding in guatemala city for their own safety until they can arrange to join him in miami beach. >> gretchen: wow. that's an interesting story. okay. thanks, phil. >> that it is. you may no longer have to dive for the mute button upon commercials. there's a new law that mandates lower volume during tv breaks. it went into effect today. that's coming up after this quieter commercial break. ♪

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>> gretchen: breaking news for you right now. the u.s. abide to the united nations, susan rice, officially withdrawing her name for consideration of secretary of state. breaking news, why would she do that? jonathan hunt is in studio with me. this has been a controversial situation because as we know, a couple of days afterlet benghazi attacks, susan rice was sent out on five sunday talk shows and said it was because of a spontaneous reaction from an anti-muslim videotape. many thought it could have been a terrorist attack and her name was floated. what do you make of this? >> it became clear quickly it was going to be very difficult for the embassador to the united nations to get the nomination as secretary of state and to get it through because so many republicans were infuriated by

the comments she made. the questions were asked, why was she the one put out there? why did secretary of state hillary clinton not take to the sunday talk shows circuit but whatever the reasons behind it, the blowback was so great it was difficult to see her being actually cleared as the next secretary of state. interesting in the white house statement they put out, that president obama says i'm grateful she will continue to serve as our embassador to the un. there had been talk of her going to the white house as national security which doesn't require confirmation. >> gretchen: thank you. let's go to ed henry who covers the white house daily. surprising news. usually when we hear these types of things they happen on a friday afternoon. >> the president is moving closer to naming a new national security team. this is in a broader context.

i've been told the president has a chuck hagel, former republican senator, as leading contender for defense secretary. he had a meeting with the president a couple weeks back. before we heard this about susan rice stepping down, and we have the letter she sent to the president withdrawing her name from consideration for secretary of state. i was hearing john kerry, senate foreign relation chairman was leading contender for secretary of state. i also heard separately that susan rice has been under k for national security advisor. it's a senior post where you have a lot of influence over the president's national security policy but it's a position in the white house that would not be confirm able by the senate. so the president could appoint her the national security advisor. we'll see whether or not he does. some democrats floated that to me. they knew, and the reason it's breaking now, they knew that and

susan rice knew that what senator mccain threatening to filibuster that was going to be a bloody battle and the president is in the middle of a budget battle. about an hour from now we have other breaking news, expecting speaker john boehner to come over for another face-to-face chat with the president. their second in four or five days. he was here sunday. the bottom line is the president's got a lot on his plate. that takes a potential with susan rice off his plate. >> she extended the olive branch to republicans who were against her. she called for meetings with mccain and i believe lindsey graham and then kelly ayotte and they said after the meeting, we feel worse. >> they said things were not cleared up. another pivotal moment, after the meetings with those senators, who already kind of noted they were opposed to susan rice before the meetings, they came out with more questions.

you had a moderate republican in susan collins within days who met with susan rice. she came out saying i'm not sure i can support this nomination if she's nominated. when you have a moderate republican who is a supporter of the president's democratic nominees saying i'm not sure about this, a female senator in susan collins, it was clear the votes were not there for susan rice to be secretary of state. >> thank you very much. mike emanuel, who we were talking to about the john boehner and president obama meeting, there's another piece of news. >> a lot of people on capitol hill are wonder whether the president wanted a fight over the next secretary of state. a lot of republican senators here were saying that essentially he should have the person that he wants in that role but they had serious reservations about susan rice.

so after she came up here to try to clear up the misunderstandings over benghazi or answer their questions, a lot were irritated after the meeting. susan collins withdrawing support, who is a moderate. john mccain, lindsey graham from south carolina seemed more furious after they came here than beforehand. so it seemed pretty clear susan rice's nomination, if it were submitted, would be a serious fight that perhaps the president did not want at this point with so much else he's trying to get accomplished heading into his second term. >> gretchen: back to ed henry. i'm wonder, is john kerry cracking the champagne right now? >> there's no doubt. i was speaking to a democrat a few moments before the news broke who was telling me around town a lot of people in senator kerry's orbit are talking about the likely possibility. i will also add to our point about the dira